Contents

Appearance

Gokū, a Super Saiyan 3.

Unlike the two transformations proceeding it, Super Saiyan 3 brings with it a drastic change to the Saiyan's appearance. Noticeably, the Saiyan's golden hair lengthens until it reaches their waist; their eyes regain their pupils; their eyebrows disappear, resulting in a pronounced ridge; and they become slightly more muscular. Additionally, the Saiyan's aura becomes more violent and erratic than before, and the plasma from Super Saiyan 2 remains present.[10]

Attributes

Gokū transforms into Super Saiyan 3 instantly.

The exact method for achieving Super Saiyan 3 is never touched upon in either the manga. In the anime, however, Gokū does refer to the Super Saiyan 3 form as drawing all of a Saiyan's power out of the body while transformed into a Super Saiyan 2. Like its predecessors, it drastically increase the Saiyan's speed, strength, and power. In terms of power, Super Saiyan 3 is approximately four-times more powerful than Super Saiyan 2.[11] The power increase is so significant, that it can be felt as far away as the Kaiōshin Realm.[12] In the anime, the transformation into Super Saiyan 3 alone severely endangered the planet Earth, causing a variety of natural calamities.[13] This was not present later, when Gokū was able to instantly assume the transformation against the evil fused Majin Boo.

The power the transformation grants is staggering, allowing Gokū to overwhelm Majin Boo in combat during their first meeting.[12] Ultimately, Gokū would abandon the Super Saiyan 3 transformation after he fights Beerus and realizes that mastering godly ki in his normal form and applying it to create a new transformation would increase his strength further and sap less strength.[14] However, Gokū would use this form against Trunks in a sparring match to test his power.

In addition to the change in appearance, the Saiyan's personality also undergoes a slight change. In Gokū's case, he became more serious and ruthless.[12] The English anime further accentuates this change, revealing that Gokū's voice becomes lower and more monotone while transformed into a Super Saiyan 3.[15]

Trivia

Super Saiyan 3 is a popular form to be given to characters from the series in video game installments — Broli, Vegeta, Vegetto, Gogeta, Gohan, Bardock, Raditz, and Nappa have all received the Super Saiyan 3 transformation in at least one video game. Six of these were in Dragon Ball Heroes, while Vegeta and Broly received theirs in the Raging Blast series.

A female Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2.

Despite Broli's new transformation being called the "Legendary Super Saiyan 3" (伝説の超サイヤ人3, Densetsu no Sūpā Saiya-jin Surī) in the trailer for Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, the game itself classifies his transformation as an ordinary Super Saiyan 3.[16]

In the English dub of Dragon Ball Z: God and God, Gokū refers to Super Saiyan 3 as the "legendary Super Saiyan 3". This is not present in the Japanese version.

In the manga, the actual "trigger" for Super Saiyan 3 isn't known; unlike Super Saiyan 1 and 2, which are illustrated to be achieved through anger — though Gokū and Vegeta obtained "2" through intense training — Super Saiyan 3 has never had a defined trigger, with Gotenks even statting he doesn't know he obtained. Gokū goes into some detail on how to obtain the form in the anime, and the games show Beat using anger as a trigger, while Broli exploited the Restoration from the Verge of Death that the Saiyans possess.